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10 days London Scotland

Hi forum! My wife and I will be crossing the pond in late October for 11 days. We fly into London and out of Edinburgh. Since our time is short this time, my thinking was to spend 4 days in London area with maybe a day trip to Oxford and then take sleeper train to Inverness and motor around the highlands a bit, ending in Edinburgh. The itinerary would look like this:

Day 1--arrive early morning, drop bags at hotel (considering Victoria Palace?) and take a relaxing bus tour of London, and explore for the rest of day
Day 2--explore London
Day 3--day trip to Oxford (perhaps Wndsor Castle combined tour?)
Day 4--explore London, perhaps day trip to Stonehenge (is this a must see with so little time?)
Night Sleeper train to Inverness.
Day 5--pick up car drive south west to isle of Skye, overnight in Skye (Slighachan?)
Day 6--explore Skye, overnight in Skye (should I spend 2 nights here as opposed to a different location?)
Day 7--drive to Fort William, overnight in Fort William or Inverary
Day 8--drive to Culzean Castle, overnight in Ayr (would I be better off going to Stirling?)
Day 9--drop car in Edinburgh
Day 10--Edinburgh
Day 11--depart late afternoon

A little extra info. I hear that it gets dark mighty early so we'd have to gt an early start. We are hoping to spend at least one overnight in a castle and would appreciate any suggestions. Any comments on this itinerary would be welcome. Thanks so much.

Oh extra question, can anyone tell me how long the ride is from Inverness to Skye? I'm worried that Google under estimates at 2.5 hours which would probably mean sleeping somewhere else on the way, cutting out Culzean Castle.

I can't help with the Scotland part (wish I could! still on my want-to-see list) but I think you are trying to pack too much into the London part. Everybody's trip is of course personal and maybe you have compelling reasons for seeing the things outside of London. But London is so huge that you really can't see more than two or three major sites per day. I LOVE Oxford, so if you really want to see something other than London (which you couldn't exhaust in 4 whole weeks, much less four short days), I'd say go there. But ONLY there--don't shortchange it by trying to arrange something else. And no need to take a "tour"--there is so much info here about how to see Oxford on your own that I'd suggest that if you decide to leave London. Stonehenge is certainly cool, but I'd say not a must-see in your limited time. And as for that "relaxing" bus tour--Why? the last thing you want to do on a jet-laggy day is be relaxed! You'll just fall asleep and waste time and money.

If you ask 5 people, they'll give you 5 different lists of what to see in 2.5 days (which is what you may have if you don't sit on a bus the first day and only take one day trip) but here are mine, not in any order (and certainly not grouped according to area, which is how you need to plan your itineraries once you pick your destinations): The Tower of London (and walk on the Tower Bridge), Westminster Abbey (and the surrounding area as walkbys), St. Paul's (and the Milinneum Bridge and surrounding area), the British Museum (and the British Library if you have time), and strolling/people-watching somewhere, in the parks, along the Southbank, the Trafalger Square/National Gallery area.

Whatever you decide will probably be a blast! But don't stuff your days too full; on the other hand, don't do things that might "waste" some time--IMO, bus tours and guided tours might do this. (Except that once you are in Oxford, the walking tours from the Tourist Information office are terrific, but they only take a couple hours. Make reservation ahead of time, though, especially for thematic tours.)

And about Google-maps--As I said, haven't been to Scotland (yet!), but in our driving around England and Wales, we found that we averaged 1.5 times what Googlemaps said. Or sometimes closer to 1.75 times. I had allowed twice as much. That gave us a cushion so we weren't feeling too pressured.

Exactly why is London even on this itinerary other than as a base of operations? London is the size of New York City - it's twice the size of any other Western European city. You won't see half of what (if anything) is on your own "must see" list with 1.5 days in London, thus the Stonehenge trip is a waste.

Why does the length of the Inverness-Skye drive impact a later trip to Culzean Castle? You don't need to go back to Inverness to reach the Western Highlands and Ft. William. That said, your Inverness to Skye day will be a long one because in all likelihood you won't sleep too well on the overnight train.

I definitely don't want to shortchange London. The reality is that 10 days is just not enough time for this trip. After researching a bit I tried to see how much it would be to change the tickets for a longer stay, but there's a $275 per ticket change fee. Our plan is to return in the next two years for just an England trip.

Certainly 2.5 days in NYC wouldn't be near enough to cover all of the best things to do or see and i assume it is the same with London, all the same, we will take our time and make the best of it.

Thank you so much Texas for the suggested London itinerary. I'll definitely check those out. As you both suggest, I'm cutting Stonehenge out.

I really don't want to cut Culzean castle out, but if I have to stay somewhere for the night on the way to Skye and still plan on two nights in Skye, the time would have to come from somewhere. Do you think i sHould stay 2 nights there?

"Do you think, relative to how little time I have, that 2 nights on Skye is too much?"

That is the wrong question IMO. If you can't spend 2 nights -- or preferably more -- then you need to rearrange your whole trip. 2 nights only nets you a little over one day on Skye. Nothing says you must visit Skye, but if you do you need time to see anything.

And PLEASE, on such a short visit, don't waste time staying in Ft William. It is a dump.

You are doing a lot of driving to fit in Culzean/Ayrshire. It is a lovely place to be sure. But there are MANY other lovely places that wouldn't have you driving hundreds of extra miles.

Based on the responses, I'm now a bit concerned about time. I would be very grateful if anyone could suggest an itinerary for 4 full days prior to dropping car in Edinburgh? I would very much like to visit Skye again. I was up in Scotland for a bit 15 years ago and I loved it so much, but it was so long ago and I was so young with a backpack that the experience has proven worthless for planning this trip (so much so that iI didn't bother mentioning it in the OP). My wife has never been to Scotland but has listened to me rave about it since we met 10 years ago and dreams of seeing otters. I would hate to give up Skye, but I would like to be practical. If I did have to give it up, I'd consider the north east since I've never been there. Again any help is very much appreciated.

Collect your rental car and drive to Skye via the bridge. W/ an early start you will be there by mid-morning (Hopefully the rental car agency open early).

Stay 2 nights on Skye - preferably here since it is the most convenient location for touring several parts of the island. http://sligachan.co.uk/

Leave Skye late morning via the Armadale/Mallaig ferry. Stop at Glenfinnan, and Glencoe. Have a lateish lunch here in Glencoe http://www.clachaig.com/

Then either: drive down Loch Linnhe and stay one night in Oban or somewhere just south of there. Next day explore Kilmartin and Inveraray and head east towards Stirling.

Stay the last night somewhere near Callander.

OR-

Instead of Oban drive inland and visit Killin and stay the last two nights near Callander.

In the one or 1.5 days you'd net near Callander - visit Inchmahome Priory and Stirling Castle (and Doune Castle if you have the time). Hop on the motorway and dash To Edinburgh airport, drop the car and take the bus into the city.

I agree that Sligachan is well located, but it's not for all. It's perhaps a nice hotel (with mixed reviews) that's basically at a crossroads and looks out on a caravan park. We preferred the additional options that Portree had, but others may not.

No doubt you are in better position to say what is "best" since we only went the one time. For our style (up early and back to home base before dinner), we like to have nearby dinner options and Portree fit the bill.

For us, with only two days we assumed we could only do the northern bits anyway so Portree was fine. For those wanted to see other parts of Skye, Sligachan is more central.

Funny you should say >>we like to have nearby dinner options and Portree fit the bill.<< . . . That is one of the main reasons I like Sligachan. They are about the only place that serves any sort of food all day/night long. No having to stick to 'meal times'.

Thank you so much Janis... that itinerary is fabulous. Oban looks amazing and the Inchmahome Priory looks really cool. Indy--your trip report is really great and the pictures are beautiful.

Follow on question--my wife really wants to spend a night in a reasonably priced castle. Barcaldine seems to be the right price and it looks to be near to Oban. Would this work as a place to stay for a night?